49ers crush Rams in NFL's first Australia game

0:00coming up on today's PFC live. The 49ers and the Rams get together down under. It goes very well for the team that got there early, not so well for the team that showed up late. Plus all the other action that is coming as the first Sunday of the regular season approaches. All that more on today's edition of PFT live. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines. By real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. That's it. Here's the hand. It's time.

1:00Touchdown. John Morkis Robinson. Footing his former team. They look on the line. Wow. Open. Debo Samuel. Touchdown. 15-year strike. And the Tigers extend. Starting with the moment where it appeared. The 49ers would indeed find a way to prevail in their first game of the season against the Rams and ending with the dagger. Touchdown passed. Debo Samuel. Rock, Purdy. Getting it done. The 49ers last night. That first touchdown pass. The one to the Marcus Robinson former Ram, former chief guy who's been around the NFL for a long time.

2:01Guy who's been a free agent multiple times. Never has had a big payday. That throw and the catch too because that throw was in the piss missile category. But you know, it had a little arc on it. It made it even more impressive than the usual frozen rope. I mean, it was just like fast motion. It was the kind of throw that you don't see. Many guys not named my homes and Alan make. I mean, it was a spectacular. Just. Quick release. Confident. It was one of those where and Sims and I have talked about this recently, Michael. So with some guys, you know when they let it go that they got something. When he let that go, he had something. And he had to mark his Robinson behind the defense and that made it 10 seven. And that was the moment where it first started to feel like the 49ers despite all of a crap.

3:01And there's more crap than we can discuss in two hours. That they've had going on. Man, task at hand focused, determined, successful in Melbourne or Melbourne. Apparently as I heard over and over again. Yes. Yes. Melbourne. I'm Melbourne. Not Melbourne. Melbourne. First of all. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And I'm so glad you said that. Because I've been struggling with that. I've been struggling with that. Now, I want to say Melbourne. Then I can even adjust it to Melbourne. I can. But Melbourne. I can't do that. I just can't do that. It doesn't roll off there. And it is a great place. Now I've been there before. I've been to years ago. They had the Olympics. This is a long time ago now. Oh my god. Can you remember it like yesterday?

4:01But it was in 2000. They had the Olympics. The summer Olympics in Australia actually started in late September. And I was in Melbourne. Melbourne. I was in Sydney. I was in Canberra or Canberra. Depending on your pronunciation. But it is a it is a country mic that knows how to have a party. Imagine New Orleans during Marty Grah for an entire country. I mean, I just know how to have a good time. You could hear that at the game last night. You could see it. They're singing along during the game. The energy is great. And therefore from the field, it's a setup. It means an impressive stadium. But it's not really on top of the field. It's kind of there was a distance there. But you felt like the entire time. It was almost it was so good. The crowd noise. It made you wonder.

5:02It made you skeptical for a little bit. If you were in the US, you'd say, is that the Atlanta Falcons or Indianapolis Colts piping in crowd noise? I mean, it's just like, this is too much noise. But they are legitimately into it. So yeah, it was a great time. It was great to see it. I was I wasn't sure that it would be good for the league. I think ultimately if I had to make a I had to make a call on it. I'd say it was good for football. 100,000 and 21 attended the game at the MCG Melvin cricket ground, which they call affectionately and quite simply the G. And the overhead shots. Great city. Big city. And there were other facilities nearby. I didn't know what sport or sports would be played in them. But they were there. Did the research last night. My son and I were curious.

6:03I got home in time from Seattle to do a little work, a little copy paste, snarky comment, head down to the barn, have a little Jersey Mike's free product placement there to go along with our free Adidas product placement. And watch the game, enjoyed the game. And I completely lost my train of thought while we're reflecting on the Jersey Mike's. I enjoyed last night. But. Oh, you are doing some research on Australia. Oh, you wanted to you were curious about. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. That's why we're a good team. Australian rules football is the number one sport. In Australia, Australia rules football. And the first field goal, the game first score, they did the homage to the dudes with fedores and trench codes that do the after a score in Australia with football. They do the authoritative slamming of the forearms into the invisible table.

7:04So I remember vividly watching Australia and rules football back in the days when ESPN was the network of tractor pools and tidley winks. I remember being like mad that people look down on ESPN because this is a channel. It's only sports. It's not a crap. I don't care about news. I don't care about soap operas. I don't care about any of that stuff. Just give me sports. Well, the sport that we're offering today involves a ball. Kind of looks like soccer. Kind of looks like rugby. You're never going to fully understand it, but it's on TV. It's the old sign felt bit. Why am I watching? Because it's on TV. Back in the days where three channels became 25, 30. There was one sports channel.

8:04And that was the first like, I remember like going to school and talking to my friends about it. And all we really knew was it was pretty cool how the dude in the trench coat and the fedora would do the. Kind of look like it was Tom. I was like a Tom Landry vibe would do the. So anyway, Australia and rules football is the most popular. Rugby is not far behind. Cricket is very popular. And I don't know where American rules football would be on that higher arc. It's probably extremely low. But events like yesterday or the kind of thing that once you do it, then the locals in theory, they're more inclined to watch the games on television. Even though the time difference may be an issue. Because if there's a game on at eight o'clock at night, it's 10 in the morning for them. Although that's not that's not horrible. Primetime game just carve out a little time on a, I guess it would be a Monday.

9:06That is the problem. You show up for work on a Monday. And you find a way to turn on your phone, keep the volume manageable and take in a Sunday night prime time game from the United States. So this is the next step for the NFL tour. Global domination. And I have a feeling that it's going to be Melbourne or other points in Australia in that first window of the season. Because that's really the only practical time to do it. There's going to be two teams dealing with what happened last night and the travel and everything that goes along with it. I feel like it's going to be every year. Brazil is going to get moved out of that first week of the season spot. It already is and it's going to be Super Bowl champion and Melbourne every year moving forward. Melbourne. And I love the reference to Australian rules football, those early days of ESPN.

10:09And remember, now you'd fall asleep watching this all sports channel and you'd wake up at one thirty two o'clock in the morning and you see these guys just running around and they seem like they're very passionate. They're tackling each other and you have really no idea what's happening. But you're just watching it. Like, okay, what are you trying to do here? In our game, maybe you just run for the end zone. What are you doing? It seems like you're running into people. Are you running away from them? What are you trying to do? But yeah, it was chaos and I think of it. I think of it usually at two a.m. or three a.m. Either you're waking up or you're coming in at the end of a long night that turn into an early morning and then you just flip it on and there's Australian rules football. And you mentioned the time difference for teams. I don't know. I know they didn't make a big difference, a big deal about it last night. If there is a time difference and if your body has to adjust to it,

11:13you might want to get there early. You might want to get there a week early like the Niners did. They didn't want to make a big deal about it, but Mike, how could it not be a factor? Even a small, even if it's 5%, if it was a 5% factor in the game. That's significant in this sport where we've heard over and over coaches have told us, players have told us that you went at the margins sometimes. It's the smallest detail that gives you an edge. I think it was a factor in the game. Well, I look at it this way. If the Rams had won, we may have looked at it and said it's inconclusive because we expected the Rams to win. The fact that the 49ers were the end of dogs in the game, one so convincingly, it makes it virtually impossible to ignore the strategic differences.

12:18And it was so stark and both sides were committed. Both teams believed in their approach. 49ers get there a week early. 49ers basically developing Australian accents. That's how long they've been there. The Rams barred storm in and out and took a lot of criticism for it because it's not just go play the game there. We're exporting our sport there. So maybe you'd like to go and get in sconce. Health for the benefit of the players. You feel like you're there. You feel like you're part of it. By Thursday, I felt far more like a part of Seattle than I did on Tuesday. And I enjoyed my time there, but I am very glad. It wasn't quite kiss the ground when I got home glad, but I'm very glad to be home. I'm very glad to not be in the conference room.

13:18It was utilized for the past few days. Sources close to me tell me we'll be working on improving that experience for both the viewer and the broadcaster on future Mondays when I'm not home after a Sunday night game wherever we may be. But the longer you are in a place, the more you assimilate to it, the more your body adjusts to it. And for it to be that stark, 27 to 7, the Rams looking like the Cardinals, the 49ers looking like the 49ers of old, it's undeniable that it was a factor. And let's hear a little bit on the travel issue. We'll under what extent it had any impact from the two head coaches, the two guys who were ultimately in charge of the strategy. Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, here they are.

14:23Winner lose, I knew everyone was going to make a big deal about that for either team. You never know how much that factors into it. You just try to do the best for a pair for three and a half hours. I like how we prepared, but more important, they like how we played. I don't believe that that's why we didn't play well enough. I really don't. And I can listen, I'm more than comfortable with that. That's something that I'll always make decisions that I think are best for the football team. It's easy and hindsight to be able to say it was a miss, but those are responsibilities that, you know, I'll take and then you try to be able to look at it. I'll always look at myself inside out and figure out where I can improve. Yeah, look, he doesn't want to admit that he made such an obvious mistake, right? He doesn't want to make excuses, but when you set up such a dramatic difference,

15:24how is that not going to be pointed to? And how do you even begin to know that it's not a factor? Something caused the Rams to look that bad. Something caused them to be lifeless as the game went on. That was one of the points they made during the Netflix pregame show. You get to the second half. How are guys going to be? Guys going to be cramping up, are they going to have their energy? How are they going to feel after making that long flight and landing? 28 hours before kickoff. And knowing, knowing that for what a slog that trip was, you're reward for winning the game is, you do it all over again, you get to fly home. There's been so much talk about the fact that they had 15 different guys over the past couple of years do that. And we were having fun with it the other day. Hey, Jake, you're going to go to Australia.

16:25Oh, I can't wait. I'm going to go to Melbourne. I'm going to go to Sydney. I'm going to see the Cooke-Cabarras. I'm going to, I'm going to snack on eucalyptus leaves with the koalas, which are intoxicating apparently, which would explain why they always look like they're high. I'm going to do all this, oh, sorry. No, you're only going to be there a day and then you're coming back. So don't get comfortable in Australia. I just, and look, it's hard not to defer to the wisdom of a guy who has become one of the best coaches in the NFL or in any sport. If he believes it, you're going to give him a certain amount of difference. But wait a minute, another guy who's done pretty well and who's been to more super balls hasn't won one one, but he's been to more super balls, more sustained success, arguably.

17:26And Sean McVay, although it's, it's one, no, they've been to two super balls. I'm what am I talking about? McVay has been to two and the 49ers have been to two. That's right. One one. So the other guy, but the other guy, the other guy believes we go a week in advance. And you know, I wrote this last night. The story isn't fully written yet. We got to see how these teams look. Next week, after the 49ers have essentially moved to Australia, they got to move back to America. Will the Rams be better off for it? Will the 49ers be better off for it? The 49ers are lucky. They got the dolphins week too. Most people, many are saying that the dolphins are one of the worst teams in the NFL. If the 49ers are sleepwalking because they had to adjust to Australia and not have to readjust, then their position, their approach, their strategy may not look as good. But you know what, I got a feeling that they got a full week. And they're probably feeling good that they beat the Rams.

18:26They're going to have an extra little spring in their step. They got a little more swagger. And they are playing a team that they should be able to easily beat. The Rams will host the Giants next Monday night. And then they've got Meat Grinder. They've got At the Broncos Prime Time at Philly later afternoon. Bills Monday night football at home. So, hey, the Rams better hope it was the travel. That's what Sean McVeigh maybe should have said, we better hope that's the explanation. Because the alternative is maybe we're not very good. No, I don't think that's it though. I think they're good. I think they're really good. They just have too much talent for that thing just to be a dud. And McVeigh, whether McVeigh believes it or not, and I was laughing at the end of that clip, because he has a way of convincing you that whatever he's saying is the absolute truth and that he's passionate about it.

19:29That voice, he is already, just go ahead and do, you're ready for TV, you're ready for some analyst role or some opinionist role right now. It's just, it's very entertaining listening to him talk, even when he's talking about something mundane. But I would say this, at the risk of sparking some big government debate, big government, less government, I'm not trying to get into that. But I would say at the beginning of the season, if the league is going to have the circus go all in on the circus, you obviously couldn't do this for an international game in October or November. But if it's the first game of the year, and it's going to be in Australia, it's almost like the league is apologetic. I'm saying, hey, San Francisco, LA, we, we got you in Australia, the first game of the year. I mean, you go ahead, handle it anyway you want, but I just want to let you know that on September

20:3110th, you're going to be playing in Australia. Well, no, don't do it that way. For the first game of the year, have it like a, a mini Super Bowl where, hey, you're expected to arrive at this time. And you're going to be here for about a week and there may be a league activity or two. Look, if you're going to have to go to Australia, we're really going to make you go to Australia. You're going to have to do, this is a promotional trip for us. So you're going to have to do some things that really, they might piss you off a little bit. Now, the Niners seem like they enjoyed drinking the coffee and going to the museums and all those things. But why not just have both teams arrive, they have to be there at a certain time. And at the very least, you've got both teams who are dealing with the same issues, jet lag issues, and the game will be what the game will be. And I, who knows, Mike, if they had done it that way, maybe the final

21:34score is still 27 to 7. But if it's going to be a marquee event, treat it like a marquee event. But that is an excellent point. And the NFL is willing to be heavy handed whenever it wants to. And my natural inclination is to say, don't tell them what to do. You're already telling them, they have to play a game in another country when they clearly rather not do it. But you know, I got to give the 49ers credit. Kyle Shanahan had no desire to do this. He didn't want to lose what is a de facto home game for the 49ers. He suspected that the Rams specifically targeted the 49ers for that game. So they wouldn't be embarrassed yet again with all the red in whose house, Rams house. I heard that a couple of times last night during the broadcast. I think they may want to revise that, right? I think you may want to exercise discretion when declaring to the world

22:44that this house is yours when it's been commandeered by someone else. And there's a certain amount of karma in all of that. The Rams thought they were going to pull a fast one here. We have to send a game. Let's send the one game that makes us look the worst every year when those like it. He blank blank blank blank blanks from San Francisco come down here and take over whose house? Not our house today. So welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta, and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments. And most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great

23:46hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. Look at work. And what impresses me about the 49ers, and I made reference to this earlier. All the crap they've been dealing with all the stuff. Stuff. Yeah. That if we had rattled off the list before March 1, we'd be saying there's no way. There's no way. You could draft a film treatment that would be premised on all the crap that's happened to the 49ers in the off season and no one would believe it. And they found a way to put that behind them, the focus, the perform, and they're also fortunate that guys who had been

24:50not healthy. Guys that may or may not have been available. It all lined up perfectly. Now they did emerge with some injuries, but not to their core key best got to have players like Rosa and McCaffrey and Kitto and Evans and Warner. There's more. I don't want to give anyone short drift here, but they still had they still had shades of the substation in Melbourne. But it's amazing. And I look, I swallowed the cheese in both ways from both packages. The 49ers man, what a mess. It just feels like it's going to crumble for them and the the Rams. Hey, Bill Platsky told me they're going undefeated. How can you not believe in the Rams? Bill Platsky says it then you got to start one and oh, if you're going to go 20 and oh, you got to start one and oh. And it gets back to how we have so much conversation and speculation and dissection before the

25:55game start and then reality takes over. And every year we do it. Every year we do it. It's like we never acknowledge that anything and everything can and will change once the games start and the starkest example. The Rams, the team we were ready to hand the trophy to their own one. Well, listen, a floreo flat, Platsky should have waited until October, October one. I know it's it's a better column. If you do it at the beginning of the season because it's bold and they haven't played a game and you say undefeated until the clock starts right then, but maybe wait until like three or four games and it's still pretty bold. If they're four and oh and you say they're going to go undefeated, they're going to win their next 13. All right. And all their postseason games, sure. So maybe you should have put that one in drafts until he saw the first three or four games of the season. But you mentioned the Niners and all the things that they've dealt with. We know the

26:57injuries that they've had and the issues that they've had with Brandon Ayuk and all of these things with the Niners. But if you just step back and look at it, I know healthy if healthy. That's a big if but they're talent. They must look at themselves and say, well, why is everybody talking about the Rams? Did they not see that we got Fred Warner back? He missed most of last year. We got Fred Warner. We got one of the best if not the best inside linebacker and football. And we got Dre Greenlaw back. And Nick Bosa is healthy. And Christian McAfry has help. I don't know if this K-Lon Black, this rookie from Indiana, he was running last night like he ran in Indiana like he was running for Kurt Signetti. I mean, he runs hard. He is a no nonsense running back. So they have all these like Devo Samuel back and Mike Evans and other than that Mike Evans is another if healthy player. So their roster is just as talented as LAs. And here's the other thing. We

28:06haven't mentioned this name yet. Rahim Morris won a Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator for the Rams. He knows Kyle Shanahan very well. They go way back. He knows Sean McVey very well. And so you got Rahim Morris replacing Robert Salas as a defensive coordinator. He's been a championship coordinator before. And he knows exactly what McVey is trying to do. He knows the concepts. Yeah, it's going to be NFC West is going to be a blast to watch. I mean, you got three Super Bowl caliber teams in one division. Only one of them can win the division. But it's going to be a hell of an adventure and a fight just watching them figure this thing out. Well, and look, just because the 49ers successfully navigated one game with all their key players doesn't mean it's going to continue all year long. We've seen it play out the past couple of years. We saw it in 2020. Their hopes get dashed.

29:09Their prospects get derailed by this rash of injuries. And there's still 16 games to go. So I don't want to malochio the 49ers. We're just acknowledging that given the way they play, given their mindset, given their the Dibo Samuel, I think is the epitome of this fighting for every blade of grass, no matter what he's doing that kick return, setting the tone in the second half last night. He will give his all at all times. And that's what makes us susceptible to getting injured. So long way to go for both teams, long way to go. And McVeigh made that clear after the game last night. They're not going to let this define them. Shanahan said a few things we're going to hear from him specifically. Let's hear from him on having key guys back like Nick Bosa who missed most of last year, like Fred Warner who missed a lot of last year, like George Kittle who was back playing eight months to the day after he tours Achilles tendon. Here's Shanahan on having those guys back in the fold.

30:15I felt awesome. Let me just having those guys back. We went a long time without them last year. George not as long. He just missed the one playoff game. But I know just I know it's huge for those guys from just a mental standpoint, get over that hump, get now playing again, their impact. You could feel throughout the whole game. And it was really cool again. Green line and and Dibo back to. Yeah, it is huge for the San Francisco 49ers and it felt different for them. It felt like the 49ers were used to seeing when they're operating at the highest possible level. And that's the reality when you have your great players and they're healthy. Yeah, you're going to look good. Problem is at some point between now and week 18, you may lose one of those guys because history tells us that you do. You may lose two of them. You may lose three of them. Who's it going to be? Christian McCaffrey. And again, I'm always reluctant to talk about this because you just don't want to ever be perceived as saying, oh, he's going to get injured. He's going to get injured. He's got

31:23the I got the hex on him. But look at what we saw six snaps into the offensive performance on Wednesday night by the Seahawks. There goes Sam Darn. Right indications are it's not as bad as maybe it looked, but you never know when that stuff's going to happen. So that's part of it. But for last night, can't take away what happened last night. The 49ers weren't just the better team by a whisker. They came, they saw they ate a meat pie and then they kicked ass. And then they can eat meat pies all the way home. Meat pies for everyone on the long flight back to Santa Clara. One particular moment in the game that I think helped contribute dramatically the outcome. The old 14 points swing. Now usually the 14 points swing happens suddenly. Teams driving in for a potential touchdown at the key moment in the game a little past the flat.

32:27Oh, there comes the defensive back with a little head of steam snatches the ball. And he's gone. A hundred yards the other way. Touchdown. 14 points swing. Well, we had one last night. Although it didn't happen quite as suddenly. The Rams with the ill advised quarterback snake. And it's easy to say it when it fails. But come on. When they're lining up to go for it, fourth and short. Right at that 49ers classic 49ers end zone. I said to my son, they needed a push push. What are you doing putting 38 year old Matthew Stafford in there? And it looked at first like he'd gotten enough of a push that he found that seam found that crease the old Tom Brady approach. Yeah, they stopped him. It was a great call. Great call by the by the officials. Great

33:29call that he didn't make it. And then just like that 99 yard drive by the 49ers, you get a moment like adding any game at any stage of the game. That's something where you had your heart snatched out and shown to you. And it's hard to come back from that. Yeah, it's no question. And it makes you wonder about the and this is not a second guess. This really this qualifies as a first guess because of who the Rams are, who the Rams have been, especially the last couple of years when they got Nakua and Devonte Adams. How many one yard touchdown passes that Stafford have last year? I think it was more than a dozen one yarders. And because he's got these great red zone targets and great, the probably the best red zone target in Adams. But if you don't want to do that, and if the Niners are already for it, like, hey, we know what you're going to do. And we got Devonte Adams covered. You've got two running backs. And last night, at least they had a running back,

34:36a true running back share. I think it was 11 carries for one guy and nine for the other between Williams and Quorum. They run the ball. They're very committed to the run. It's a yard. Why not do something, you know, put it into the belly of one of those guys or play action or something. But the last thing I had, I'm with you, Mike, the last thing I had on the bingo card was Matthew Stafford going in on his own without a push. Now, he's a big guy. If you see him in person, this is not like a, he's big. He's a lot bigger than Brock Pertie. We're not talking about a 6162 guy. He's a big strong quarterback. So it's not like he can't deal with the contact. It's just, it doesn't seem to be something that they normally do. And it never felt like they got Stafford loose that they got it rolling that they got it working.

35:36And he did have the interception after the Rams. It didn't accept the Brock Pertie and it felt like maybe that was going to be the moment the Rams wake up. Then came the interception. You mentioned the running game and both teams did this. Lake Quorum had 10 carries for 54 yards. Kyron Williams had 11 for 41. The 49ers. And this is the kind of thing that's going to make the folks who choose to follow football via the fantasy route. Little upset. Christian McCaffrey 10 carries for 68. Caleb Black 14 for 65. What are we doing? What are we doing? I thought I love Christian McCaffrey was one of those workhorses. We're going to have a, we're going to have a running back share and San Francisco this year. And it feels like they've been trying to find a guy that can do it. It looks like they found one and third round from Indiana. And that, that's kind of

36:38change all those folks that took Christian McCaffrey in round one. Uh oh. We didn't get the memo that it wasn't going to be heavy doses of McCaffrey like last year. But you know what? They got to be smart because those heavy doses from last year. It gets at the stage for an injury this year. All that extra work. So both teams sharing the ball in the running game. 49ers overall far more effective. And that 99 yard drive after they slammed the door on staffer. That was huge. It's huge. So sure. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments. And most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you

37:41there. You know, look at it this way too. With all the talk about the impact of the travel on the players. What about McVeigh? He's got to perform in that moment. He's got to be able to think straight. Good point. Yeah. Good point. If you've been, if you've been spending the time up to 28 hours before the game, worrying about presiding over this massive movement of humanity from LA to Melbourne. And you have to survive the trip. And you're the camp counselor who's making sure everyone's asleep. Hey, make sure they're getting their sleep. Make sure this. Make sure they're drinking their water. Make sure this, you know, it's the person who's always worried about everyone else that doesn't

38:43think about themselves and their ability to function. Maybe McVeigh was off his game because number one, he was in charge of everything. And number two, he had to survive the extended travel and react to that and get himself ready to go out and it's like getting a good night's sleep before a test. Like he let himself get run down, worrying about all his guys. Maybe he was off a little bit. Yeah. No, look, it's, it's a great point, Mike. And I don't want to take away from what Kyle Shanahan usually does against Sean McVeigh. If you look at their careers, I mean, Shan, they know each other. They run the same coaching staff. Everybody knows how close they are. But Shanahan, whether it's in Australia or in northern California or southern California, Shanahan usually has pretty good results against McVeigh. It's, he's got a good record. It's impressive

39:45against the best coach. I think a lot of people recognize McVeigh as the best coach in football, if not the best in the top three. So that, that would happen anywhere. But I can just go back to the McVeigh plan and the Rams plan of getting Australia just before the game and then heading out. What do you have to do? Why the hurry? You got a concert to go to an LA. You have some event like why are you hell bit on getting there, you know, 18 to 20 hours before the game and then turning around and leave. It doesn't make sense. Even if, even if the same thing would happen. Let's say you do it the 9ers way and then you still score 7 points. Okay, it's sudden make a lot of sense just to put your whole operation through that. I think what the 9ers did was really smart. It was, hey, we're going to take over. We're going to have a, we're

40:48going to have our facility. We're going to approximate it in Australia. So we have all our people, we'll have all our stuff. Anything that the players need. It was almost like they planned for it. They were thoughtful about it and they executed it. I think it was a miss. I think it was a miss by the Rams. Even if, hey, maybe if they had done it the 9ers way, maybe it's 27 to 14 instead of 27 to 7. Maybe if they had done it the 9ers way, they would have scored there instead of the, the almost push push, the kind of sort of push push from Matthew Stafford and they get an extra touchdown. But I think it's just good practice. It just common sense. I think to get there earlier and and just calm down before the game is played. And look, there's always going to be a disconnect between what people will say publicly and what they'll say privately and what they'll think in their hearts that is never set out loud. But

41:53and we're talking about a sport that is fueled by emotion, fueled by passion, fueled by desire, the more pissed off you are, the better you may perform because fundamentally added its core football is a violence sport that requires one person to attempt to impose his will against another person and it is old school caveman stuff. Who's the strongest? Who's the most fit? Who's the most pissed? And if you're the 49ers, if you're Kyle Shanahan, not only are you pissed that you got to go to Australia to play your rivals at some level. Aren't you pissed that the Rams are treating this like it's no big deal? It's just the 49ers. We don't have to go

42:58early. We don't have to match their acclimation. We can barn storm in just the 49ers. We handpicked the 49ers for this assignment and we're going to show up the day before and we're going to mop the Melbourne cricket grounds with them. This isn't Globetrotters versus generals. This is a viable rivalry. And so at some level, if I'm the 49ers, if I'm Kyle Shanahan and I'm in my locker room and no one is taping me, I'll lane Kiffin and if that was even real. But I'm saying to these guys, hey, they think that we're in easy mark. They think they can just show up the day before. Go halfway around the world, show up the day before and check the box and beat and F them.

44:02So I think I'm surprised in hindsight. And the problem is we give people who have accomplished much the benefit of the doubt ahead of time. If Sean McVay thinks this is the way to do it then, maybe he's right. Yep. Maybe he's right. You know, when I give you the best example, best example of this. When Bill Bell checked decided to hand the keys to his offense to Mappetrish and Joe Judge, most people were like, okay, and I remember sitting in this chair saying, if any other coach did this, we would say has he lost his freaking mind? Yeah. So, you know, I think we have to wonder. Did Sean McVay lose his freaking mind on this specific plan. Once you catch wind of what the 49ers are going to do, do you sit down and say, how's this going to look? How's this going to look? They're going eight days early. We're going

45:05eight hours early. How's this going to look? If we lose this game, how's this going to look? It's going to look like arrogance for one of us. Here's the other thing. This is, and Mike, this is another reason the league should determine when you get there for the first game of the season, whether it's in Australia or Brazil, Mexico City is not much of a factor in this thing I'm about to mention. But London, London could be, and that is a delay. What if the plane is delayed? What if there's some issue with this is not unprecedented for any professional team, even teams that have their own planes? Sometimes there are delays. So you're getting, now you're getting to the point where a delay is not really going to, maybe it won't postpone the game,

46:09but now you're putting your team in a really difficult spot. Let's say there had been, and I know I'm not talking to anybody who's dealt with any kind of flight delays in the past couple of weeks, L.A. Joe. I know I'm not talking to anybody like that, but let's say the plane have been delayed for five or six hours. What if something had gone wrong? Now you've got your guys in this, they're pretty much sleepwalking as they're playing the first game of the season against arrival. But I actually don't think that that's what pissed off the Niners the most, the travel plan. I think it's just the hype. It's the hype because as you look, as we just discussed, if you look at the Niners compared to the Rams, especially in the key category where they were able to neutralize Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett was quite, Miles Garrett was, he was quiet. Miles Garrett

47:15had no impact in the game. He didn't touch anybody. He kept your quarterback clean from Miles Garrett. So there are not a lot of teams. I'm going to say I don't think there's another team in football that will be able to do it the way the Niners did it yesterday. They're approached to Miles Garrett. I think the Niners look at it and say, hey, we're in the same division as these guys. We don't fear them. We're just as talented as they are. We'll see. Let's show people what we've got on our side as you all anoint the Rams. The rematch is coming in week 14 in San Francisco. On the other side, the break will go more from Miles Garrett. We'll hear directly from Miles Garrett. Before that, let me just report. I had no travel issues to and from Seattle flying on Alaska Airlines. And the good news is when I fly to New York tomorrow, it will not be to Lee Harvey Oswald International

48:16Airport. It will be the Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Airport unless that flight gets cancelled. I have to go LH show more PFT live right after this. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there.